Fun discovery

Sometimes, I am just amazed at how things link together, providing us with more information and enlightenment.

For me, this letter writing thing isn't something new. From letters to and from friends and relatives when I was a kid, to world-wide pen pals when I was a teenager, I've always been interested in communicating with other people.

While working on the 365 Letters project, I keep coming across newspaper clippings that I've saved through the years.

Recently I found an undated but yellowed newspaper article by Mike Harden with the Scripps Howard News Service. It was clipped from the Dallas Morning News, and the headline reads: "Letter-writing leader seeks pals, not lovers."

The article is all about Steve Sikora, who at the time lived in Albany, Calif. He published a three-times-a-year magazine called "The Letter Exchange."

According to the article, Mr. Sikora never intended for the pen pal service to be a match-making service. In fact, he's quoted as saying, "Meet minds through these pages, not bodies... Writing to at total stranger is both exciting and risky... Don't get caught up in a fantasy world."

However, the article goes on to explain, sometimes love bloomed after all. At the time the article was written, Mr. Sikora said "a couple dozen" of the thousands of pen pals he had connected had married each other.

After all these years, I still found the article interesting. And, now, with Google so handy, I checked to see of "The Letter Exchange" was still being published.

What a nice surprise! Although Mr. Sikora retired from the magazine in the year 2000, just three years later, it was revived by Gary and Lonna, who were involved with what is known as LEX in its earlier years. They are still publishing the magazine, with the next issue slated to come out later this month. And, they have a Web site for The Letter Exchange now. And, I see from some information on the LEX Web site that some of my fellow letter-writing bloggers know about LEX.

Here's the gist of the magazine....you subscribe and send in a listing about yourself. Your listing is published in the magazine without your name or address; you're identified by a LEX number. Then, other people who read the magazine, pick out listings that they're interested in and send letters to LEX. The letters are then forwarded to the appropriate person, and a penfriendship is established.

The Web site lists the current subscription prices as ranging from $21.50 to $26.50, depending on the type of delivery you want and where you live.

It looks like a great project!